The Electric Sail could enable travelling at speeds up to 100 km/s in space without any fuel consumption. With no major problems in any of the technical fields thus far, the planning of the first test mission has started, according to an article by Sciencedaily. In the same article, Sciencedaily wrote that "the electric solar wind sail developed by Dr. Pekka Janhunen might revolutionise travelling in space." Janhunen received funding for his electric solar wind sail research from Runar Bäckström foundation in 2005.
Janhunen has proposed that steam balloons could be used to launch rockets and satellites from higher altitudes. According to Janhunen Steam balloons are a cost-effective way of lifting a rocket into the stratosphere. The method is considered to be safe as well as reducing the carbon footprint of future rocket launches, where as in the past the emissions alone had terrible implications for the climate.
Natural illumination solution for rotating space settlements
Janhunen has proposed a lighting solution for an O'Neill Cylinder. In Janhunen's concept sunlight is concentrated by cylindrical paraboloid concentrators and reflected by semi-toroidal and conical reflectors and controlled by local blinders to simulate earthlike diurnal and seasonal illumination cycles. The rural wall living cylinder is divided into 20 z-directed valleys which are in different phases of the light cycles. No moving parts are needed other than numerous and easily accessible local blinders that regulate light input into the valleys. The settlement rotates as a rigid body and the mass distribution is such that the rotation is passively stable.
Shielded Dumbbell L5 Settlement
A two-sphere dumbbell configuration design of a rotating settlement for a first-generation in-space habitat settlement. According to Janhunen the two-sphere configuration is chosen to minimize the radiation shielding mass which dominates the mass budget.
Other research
Pekka Janhunen has mainly focused on planetary science. Some of the advances he has made in the field include "A three-dimensional stabilization mechanism for the auroral Farley-Buneman instability" and the suggestion to use electromagnetic ionosphere in global magnetohydrodynamic simulations
